Imitation and development

…according to Vygotsky, imitation is the process through which socioculturally constructed forms of mediation are internalized… One of the earliest social scientist to propose imitation as a uniquely human form of development was James Mark Baldwin (1895/1915). For Baldwin, ‘imitation to the intelligent and earnest imitator is never slavish, never mere repetition; it is, on the contrary, a means for further ends, a method of absorbing what is present in others and of making it over in forms peculiar to one’s own genius’ (cited in Valsiner and van der Veer 2000: 153). Baldwin distinguished two forms of imitation, simple and persistent. Simple imitation is the best the individual can do and ‘does not include second attempts to improve the imitation’; thus the child continues to repeat the initial production without modification regardless of its similarity to the original model (ibid.). Persistent imitation, on the other hand, is intentional and goal-directed and entails cognitive activity; it is cyclic and reproductive in the sense that the individual continues to modify the reproduction in accordance with a mental image of the original (ibid.). Each reproductive cycle works on not on the original copy ‘but the previous imitation’ (ibid.). (Lantolf and Thorne, 2005, p. 166)

Cognitive and linguistic functions

Gal’perin (1992d) approaches the problem of language and thought from the standpoint of the problem of constructing speech in a foreign language. He introduces the notions of linguistic and cognitive consciousness. The latter is the product of cognition (a reflection) of things (through images) and it serves the purpose of guiding actions done with things. Sense organs and logical thinking serve as channels for this cognition. The basic characteristic of these images is veridicity, i.e., complete and clear reproduction of the features of objects in reflection. They are subject to a criterion of practice, i.e., ‘coordination between the actual results of a process and what was expected on the basis of the original ideas of things’. In contrast, linguistic consciousness is formed as a means for organising joint activity. Its purpose is not to accomplish a full reflection of reality but ‘[l]inguistic meanings are a reflection of the interests and conditions surrounding the communication of an idea (to other people)’ (p. 89).

Concepts before experience?

For Chomsky (1988, p.191), the word is given to us ready-made “every child learns it perfectly right away”. Chomsky argues that this can only mean that human nature gives us that concept for free. For Chomsky, we have the concepts even before we have the experience "we simply learn the label that goes with the preexisting concept” (ibid. p. 191). Vygotsky (1986) research on concept development precisely shows that this platonic view of language is problematic. Conceptual development is a long transformative process where biological maturation is qualitatively transformed into cultural development when it meets communication through artifacts, i.e. language. (Negueruela, 2003, p. 75)

Action and meaning

Let us imagine three groups of children. The first group of children, infants, are playing with their food: some of it goes in their mouths, but much of it does not. If one child makes a random gesture, for example throwing his or her hands in the air, no other child will notice. The second group of children, somewhat older but still pre-schoolers, are playing ‘House’, and one child pretends to serve the meal while the other, assuming the role of Daddy, pretends to eat it. In this situation, if one child makes a random gesture, the others will reproach that child with ‘not playing the game’. A third group of children, older still, is planning a school picnic. Instead of imaginary food, they are writing out a list of real food items followed by those who shall provide them. If a child in this group throws her or his hands up, it might be interpreted as a symbolic gesture of helplessness or perhaps unwillingness to bring anything but an empty stomach. We can see that for the first group of children action and meaning are not really differentiated, and actions are only what they seem to be. One may call this ‘play’ but one is hard put to call it a game. Nor is it easy to define concrete roles or abstract rules beyond the level of rote repetition or random variation. In the second group of children, meaning does appear as a separable component of action, but it is largely an imaginative extension of the actions that the children are making. Roles are now quite explicit, and there are even implicit rules that govern the kinds of motions that may be made and how they may be interpreted. The third group of children has decisively subordinated their actions to their meanings; they are now demonstrably engaged in a school activity, even though they probably think of it as preparation for play. This time, however, it is the rules about who shall bring what which are explicit, and the ‘roles’ of provider and consumer are only implicit. Contra Piaget, Vygotsky contends that it is neither the random gesture nor the subjective level of cognitive development that creates meaning in each social situation; on the contrary, it is the differing forms of social activity that imbue random gestures with meaning and eventually lead to cognitive development.

Kim and Kellog, 2007

Hidden build-up in second language acquisition

Because the transmitter is so focused on what he expects from acquirers (textual production in the target language) and disregards what is forbidden or undesirable (the muttering of a word in the acquirer's native tongue) and what actually takes place in the classroom, he or she seems not to pay attention to the actual inter-mental build-up taking place in collaborative activities.

Sentimiento y experiencia

"...los versos no son, como la gente cree, sentimientos (...), son experiencias".

Rainer Maria Rilke, Sämtliche Werke, Werkausgabe, t. 11, Frankfort del Meno, Insel Verlag, 1976, p. 724

Evil Chinese characters

Fu Sinian, one of the leaders of the May Fourth Movement (a movement that started in 1919 and sought to put an end to imperial China by means of culture reforms), called Chinese characters the "writing of ox-demons and snake-gods". Lu Xun, a renowed Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die".

 Based on "Survey of the Chinese Language Reform and the Anti-Illiteracy Movement in Communist China", Paul L.-M. Serruys. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.